Cult Film Club Episode 23: Young Sherlock Holmes

On this episode of the Cult Film Club hosts Pax, Shawn and Jaime take a cue from the wintery season and break out an under-appreciated childhood favorite from 1985, Young Sherlock Holmes!

Directed by Barry Levinson (Diner, Wag the Dog) and written by Chris Columbus (Harry Potter, Goonies, Home Alone), the film stars a cast of young unknowns including Nicholas Rowe as Holmes and Alan Cox as Watson. The film was one of the many spectacular teen/action films produced by Steven Spielberg in the 80s (Goonies, Poltergeist, Gremlins, and Back to the Future), and it’s notable as being the one major failure, though this is due less to its quality than its failure to find its audience. Filled with cutting edge special effects work the film is also notable for featuring the first fully rendered CG character created by the fledgling CG animation studio Pixar. Does the film still hold up? That’s what the hosts try and figure out as they discuss the plot, the actors, the special effects, and the where the movie stands in the pantheon of Sherlock Holmes adaptations.